Two selections from 1942 Borden booklet of "magic recipes"

A few days ago, I wrote about a "well-loved 1942 Borden recipe booklet," and I asked you which recipes from its pages you wanted me to reprint here.

I received two requests, so here they are...

Unbaked brownies
(Makes about 18)

• 2 squares (2 oz.) unsweetened chocolate
• 1⅓ cups (15 oz. can) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 cups (⅓ pound) vanilla wafer crumbs
• 1 cup finely chopped walnut meats

1. Melt chocolate in top of double boiler.
2. Add Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk and stir over rapidly boiling water 5 minutes until thick.
3. Remove from heat. Add vanilla wafer crumbs and ½ cup of the nut meats.
4. Butter shallow pan and sprinkle with ¼ cup nut meats. Place chocolate mixture in pan and spread evenly, using a knife dipped in hot water. Sprinkle top with rest of nuts.
5. Chill in refrigerator 6 hours or overnight. Cut into squares.

Magic lemon meringue pie
(Makes an 8-inch pie)

• 1⅓ cups (15 oz. can) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
• ½ cup lemon juice
• Grated rind of 1 lemon or ¼ teaspoon lemon extract
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 tablespoons sugars
• baked pie shell (8-inch)

1. Blend Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk, lemon juice, grated lemon rind or lemon extract, and egg yolks.
2. Pour into baked pie shell.
3. Cover with meringue, made by beating egg whites until foamy, then adding sugar gradually, beating until stiff.
4. Bake in moderate oven (350° F.) 10 minutes or until brown. Chill.

Illustrated map of "Desert of Maine"

This little card — it's five inches wide — served as both the admission ticket and route map for an attraction called the Desert of Maine in Freeport, Maine. The ticket/map was printed by the Globe Ticket Company in Boston, Massachusetts.

The "desert" is, according to Wikipedia, a "a 40-acre tract of exposed glacial silt (a sand-like substance, but finer-grained than sand) surrounded by a pine forest." It's been a tourist attraction since 1925, when it was purchased for just $300 from the frustrated family that could no longer farm the land.

The map has 19 marked points. Here's the legend for those points, taken from the other side of the card:

1. Desert of Maine Gift Shop

2. Fascinating sand designers

3. The original barn of the once-fertile Tuttle Farm

4. One of the many vari-colored sand beds — Use the trowel and see how many colors you can find.

5. Remains of the original Tuttle homestead boundary posts

6. Moss beds

7. An excellent vantage point for picture-taking

8. Here lies an apple tree which was completely buried in 1953.

9. Another vari-colored sand bed

10. Another excellent point of vantage for photographers

11. The almost-completely buried Spring House built in 1938

12. Birches surviving the encroaching sea of sand

13. The Desert of Maine's highest dune — 75 feet

14. Clay beds, always moist

15. Last vestiges of the original Tuttle farm orchard

16. Indian tepee (A good place to get a photo of the "chief" of the family)

17. Indian shop

18. Desert of Maine Oasis refreshments

19. The famous Desert of Maine register. Please check your state or country and record your visit.

At the Desert of Maine today, admission is $10.50 for adults and a little less for those age 16 and under. It offers narrated coach tours, walking tours, nature trails, gemstone hunts, the opportunity to fill your own sand bottle, camping, disc golf and a butterfly room.

Has anyone ever been there?

Old advertising card for Battlefield Nurseries in Gettysburg

This undated advertising card, which is about the size of the postcard, is for Battlefield Nurseries, a business that was launched in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, more than a century ago. According to the card:

• The proprietors were C.A. Stoner and J.E. Stoner.
• The office was located at 42-44 West High Street.¹
• The business offered "healthy and hardy fruits and ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, roses, etc."
• Special attention would be given to orchard planters and those designing lawns and parks.

Here are some historical tidbits I discovered, regarding Battlefield Nurseries:

• Battlefield Nurseries had 6½ acres in Gettysburg, according to the eighth annual report of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for 1902. That made it the fifth-largest nursery in Adams County, behind only C.L. Longsdorf in Floradale, W.E. Grove in York Springs, O.P. House in Bendersville, and A.S. Wright in Bendersville.
• Two related items: "The firm of C.A. & J.E. Stoner, trading under the name of The Battlefield Nurseries was dissolved May 17th, 1905, and the business of the Battlefield Nurseries at Gettysburg will hereafter be conducted by C.A. Stoner, who has become sole proprietor of said Battlefield Nurseries." ... "I take pleasure in announcing that I was formerly a member of the firm composed of C.A. & J.E. Stoner trading as 'The Battlefield Nurseries' at Gettysburg, Pa., and I now own the Westminster Nursery at Westminster, Maryland. I have disposed of my half interest in the title 'Battlefield Nurseries' to C.A. Stoner and I now remain owner of the undividen one-half interest in the growing nursery stock known as the Battlefield Nurseries at the time of my retirement therefrom May 17, 1905, and will also supply my trade therefrom. J.E. Stoner." (The National Nurseryman, Volume 13)

So we know that the card was printed prior to May 1905, when the Stoners split up as business partners in Gettysburg. That is reinforced by the back of the card, which contains more than a dozen testimonials from Battlefield Nurseries customers. Here are some of them:

• "Frederick, Md., Nov. 17, 1902. We received the pear trees O.K. and they are fine. C.E. KLEIN."
• "Franklintown, Pa., April 13, 1903. It is with pleasure that I wish to inform yon [sic] about the trees that I bought of you this spring. I am very well pleased with them and I find that every person in the whole neighborhood that secured trees are pleased. I have been talking with a great many about buying trees for fall planting and they all intend to plant Battlefield Nurseries trees. MILTON HOFFMAN."
• "East Berlin, Pa., April 4, 1903. In looking over the nursery stock received from you I am much pleased. C.B. KAUFFMAN."
• "New Germantown, Pa., April 11, 1903. Trees at hand in good shape and well pleased. S.A. GEETSHALL"
• "Barnitz Sta., Pa., March 30, 1903. Trees received O.K. J. WARREN PEFFER."
• "Monaghan, Pa., April 11, 1903. Would you please send me one more shade tree — Carolina Poplar! They are fine and I am well pleased with them. JOHN BURGARD."

Footnote
1. In Gettysburg, 42-44 West High Street is now the site of a multi-family home, according to Trulia.

Well-loved 1942 Borden recipe booklet

Sure, it's neat to come across a pristine vintage cookbook. And as a part-time dealer of used books, I know that the value of old books can rise considerably based upon their condition. But, as a part-time ephemera collector, I also think it's neat to come across old paper that is well-worn and meant something to somebody.

There is no doubt that the booklet shown above — a 24-page collection of recipes from Borden — was an important part of someone's kitchen for many decades. The cover is creased from top to bottom and reinforced with tape around the edges. The year of publication (1942) has been printed in the upper-right corner, along with the notation that this booklet contains canned milk recipes. The corners are worn and there are numerous smudge marks inside from someone flipping through the pages.

This booklet was well-loved and well-used. And that's pretty cool.

As to whether the recipes are magic, as Elsie the Cow claims in the cover illustration ... well, that's another question.

Here are the names of some of the recipes listed inside. Let me know in the comments what one(s) you want me to share, and I'll do so in a future post.

• Apricot coconut balls
• Molasses taffy
• Peanut butter fruit confections
• Six way cookies
• Unbaked brownies
• Baked cocoa custard
• Chocolate orange frosting
• Tutti-frutti ice cream
• Magic chocolate pie
• Magic lemon meringue pie
• Magic prunecot pie
• Fluffy chocolate pudding
• Magic mayonnaise
• Magic fruit cream sauce
• Surprise apple cake